


Freaks and Rats

by DustToDust



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics), Nightwing (Comics)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-26
Updated: 2014-10-18
Packaged: 2017-12-30 13:19:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 2,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1019077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustToDust/pseuds/DustToDust
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Unconnected DickJay drabbles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Request for the circus freak and the street rat.

Gotham was their winter home for reasons Dick has never cared to figure out. All he needs to know is that when it gets too cold to draw a crowd they travel to a flattened field just outside of the huge city and practice new routines until it warms up enough to get back on the road. His dad worries about it. Dick can see it in the frown he wears as they approach the city, in the low conversations both his parents have. Too low for Dick to hear.

He’s not completely ignorant of them or the reason why old man Haley always turns North for winter. It’s just better not to touch it. Better to concentrate on the next flip or twist until he’s got the routine down perfect enough he can go for the day. Can get away from the trailers and tents and walk through Gotham.

Dick loves Gotham in the winter. Not for the people or the sights or the food. He loves Gotham for one person and one person alone.

It’s always a hunt. Especially in the first week when Dick doesn’t know where any of his new bolt holes are. They change every month for protection.

Gotham is a large city but it never takes Dick long to find him.

"I thought you hated the docks," Dick says to the young man’s back. He’s head first in a broken container shifting around things Dick is better off not looking at too closely.

"The docks can go fuck themselves," Jason mutters as he shoves something into a bag and cinches it shut. He tosses it to Dick with a smirk. "Here. Make yourself useful, circus freak."

Dick shifts the heavy bag and waits for Jason to grab a second bulging bag. He wonders how Jason was planning on getting away without drawing attention to himself before. “A big street rat like you needs help?”

Jason’s grown over the year putting on enough inches that he’s looking Dick in the eye now, and filling out just enough to look like he weighs more. It’s a good look on him and Dick admires it. Almost as much as Jason obviously likes what he sees in Dick. “Heh, how about I help you out of those pants?”

"Have you been watching porn?" Dick gasps dramatically even as he snickers at the horrible line. Staggering under the blow as he follows Jason —at a good rate of speed that isn’t quite running— away. "Your poor virgin eyes!"

Jason snorts and ducks into an alley. Pulling Dick into a wet and filthy kiss that leaves him more breathless than any of the routines he’s done today. Jason pulls back too quickly with a bite to his lower lip. “Ain’t nothing virginal about me and you damn well know it you perverted gypsy.”

Dick grins as Jason spins into the dark alley. Giving him a nice view of his worn pants. He really does love Gotham in the winter.


	2. End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was asked for this pairing and Jason taking a fatal blow for one of his brothers.

"Todd! Todd!" Damian repeats his name louder and sharper, and Jason groans because the fucking brat just isn't getting the whole secret identity thing. It's not much of a problem for Jason, but not everyone else has the same benefits of being legally dead that he has. Small hands beat furiously on his back and Jason grunts again as the boy roughly rolls him onto his back. "You fool! You stupid, _ignorant_ -"

Damian rants on and Jason lets the words go for once, because he's got a clear look of the boy's face now and the brat is _scared_. Blood washes up the back of his throat and he's cold. Resignation is setting in even before Jason can figure out that he's dying. The felling is familiar and he coughs up blood as he laughs.

"This is not funny!" Damian screams and Jason's kind of touched. He really is because this right here is proof that the boy doesn't just tolerate him for Dick's sake like he pretends. Dick, fuck. Jason doesn't find things so funny anymore.

He can feel his life slipping out of him faster than Damian's two small hands can stem the flow of it. Back up was too far out when he pushed the kid out of the way of the last desperate attack of some ninja that only lived long enough for that one last blow.

"Shit kid," Jason manages to grit out as it feel like the boy shoves his entire hand into his chest. It's painful and only highlights how large of a hole he's bleeding out of. He reaches up and gets a hand around Damian's arm to squeeze. The boy looks up at him. Fierce and angry in a way Jason knows all too well. It's a mask to over up how much the boy cares, and how out of control the situation is. "Don't let Dickie blame himself."

"You're talking nonsense, Todd!" Damian snaps and that's the optimism that's rubbed off on him from Dick.

"No I'm not, and you know it," Jason takes a deep breath and can feel how it bubbles in his chest. His lungs are filling up and the light he can see is getting dimmer. His vision is going and Jason thinks Damian's screwed up face is only a little better as a final sight than a digital count down. "He's going to blame his dumb ass. Don't fucking let him!"

He doesn't specify who. Because anyone who can fit that vague him is likely. No one will be able to stop Bruce and Tim will obsess regardless, but it's Dick he's really worried about. Jason knows --now, and damn if he wasn't stupid for ever doubting it before-- how much it tore Dick up the first time he died. Hell, he hadn't even gotten past the awkward teenage crush thing then. Hadn't had the balls until recently to try his hand at it. Fuck, Jason probably should've stayed a coward. It'd make this all easier probably.

He's not really sure about that though. Jason's always been the one dying, not the one mourning.

Damian's speaking. Yelling and Jason can't quite make out what he's saying anymore. Spent too much time worrying about things and now he's lost his last words. Jason feels his hand fall away from the boy but not hit the ground. He takes one last gasping breath and get that familiar feeling of spiraling down into a void that's been the fodder of so many nightmares one last time.


	3. Vegas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Asked for future JayDick as the Waynes dress up in civies, hit Vegas, and find a superhero themed strip club.

"I'll bet she's not as flexible as you," Jay says with the kind of grin no one in their right mind will ever trust. Dick looks up to see a busty woman strut onto the stage in a Nightwing costume that's absolutely obscene. She moves with a looseness that lets him know she's pretty flexible, but her breasts are far too large for her to really put it to much use. She's far too top heavy. "Can't quite fill out the costume the same way either."

Dick laughs and raises his drink in a toast. The burn of good rum combines with the casual flirting they've been keeping up since they landed in Vegas for the media's benefit in a way that Dick really should be more wary of than he is. Especially now that Bruce has gone off to rescue Tim from the fine ladies in matching Amazonian inspired costumes who had abducted him at the door to the joint and refused to let him go.

"No one can match my ass in spandex," Dick boasts and it's the truth, because there have been actual contests about that and he's won every single one of them so far. It's been a close call with Kyle Rayner and Connor Hawke a time or two but Dick's always prevailed in that match.

"No, they can't," Jay grins but it's not one of his usual ones. This one is slow and smoky kind of like the atmosphere of the club they're in. He's sprawled out on the cushioned seat and isn't even looking at the stripper who is --Dick forces himself to turn and immediately wishes he hadn't-- doing a poor job of not breaking her nose on a cartwheel. She must be a fill in for someone who called in sick. When he looks back Jay's still looking at him.

"You're laying the act on kind of thick aren't you?" Dick says and rocks his glass back and forth to hear the ice chink against the side of it. 

"Am I?" Jason reaches over and pours half of his own drink into Dicks nearly empty glass, and then fails to pull back. "I'm kinda thinking I'm not laying it on thick enough if you think I'm acting."

The burn low in Dick's stomach has nothing at all to do with the alcohol buzzing in his system. It's the casual touches and hint of heat when Jay leaned in say something flirtatious that Dick's been laughing off all night because Dick knows he's full of bad ideas when his little head started getting interested in his life. Dick licks his lips and doesn't pull away, but he doesn't say anything else either. Because what can he say now that won't end in utter destruction?

The temptation to flirt back is strong, and it'd be so very easy to forget the history between them. Forget the very real differences between them and their personal philosophies that have led to so much strife in the past. Forget that they're still figuring out where Jason stands legally now and that he's on probation with the masked community. Forget about it all and just flirt right back to see where it takes them.

"I think it's time we left," Bruce says with a laugh that's even more fake than usual, and Dick nearly jumps out of his skin at being snuck up on. He whips his head up but neither Bruce nor Tim are really looking at them. They're both looking at the stage with two different expressions of pained horror on their faces and Dick sees why when he follows their eyes.

Jay's laugh is lough in his ear but still makes him shiver despite the fact that he's going to go to sleep tonight --alone-- with the horrifying image of a woman in an altered Batman costume that allows her to rip the padded armor --foam-- off of her body. One boob at a time.

"Yeah," Dick says after clearing his throat a few times. He stands up and pulls away from the arm Jay almost had around his shoulder, and drains his now mixed drink before grinning. Wide and media perfect, thankful for the interruption and excuse to put some distance between himself and Jay. "I think I've seen all I need to see here now."

"Here, here," Jay raises his glass in a toast and this smile is much more familiar to Dick. Jason's not done and is already planning his next move. Dick tries to tell himself he's disappointed by that.


	4. First

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Was asked for their first kiss.

In the end it takes all of Jay's courage and more than a few shots of tequila provided by the devious Wonder Girl who seems to like petting his hair. Donna is almost distraction enough that Jay forgets what he gearing himself up for but the woman only grins at him and nudges him towards his real target with a wink.

 

The Titan's party is in full swing and Jay's buoyed along with the energetic atmosphere as much as he is by the burn of cheap alcohol in him. Laughter and jokes fly around the room and people do things a lot stupider than what he's been considering doing for a while.

Dick's in the kitchen where he went about ten minutes ago to get something, and Jason's not really surprised to find him leaning up against the fridge with the door open. Lost in thought or just enjoying the cool air on his alcohol flushed face. Probably both. Jay snorts and walks in with a grin on his face, because he's seen this once or twice before in the rare times Nightwing has seen fit to grace the Manor with his presence.

When Dick gets drunk he likes to stick his head in the freezer for some reason. He's not quite there yet, but a few more drink will do it.

"Get lost?" Jay asks, and it's not the smooth line he hasn't been practicing for a week but Dick's happy drunk right now and doesn't seem to mind.

"Jaybird," he says on a laugh that is as ridiculous as his costume and Jay's right there to catch him when he lets go of the fridge to grab for him. Jay grunts at the weight, but doesn't have to reach very far to hold the older man up. Happy drunk Dick is Happy personal space invading Dick and Jay doesn't mind one bit at all. Though maybe he took a few shots too many because he's not used to the world swaying this much. "You're getting tall. Have you seen the fruit salad. Wally was asking for it."

Jay doesn't know which of the masks out there is Wally and doesn't try asking because he's pretty sure that violates a lot of secrets. He grins though as he steers Dick towards some chairs. He catches sight of Donna outside the door who looks like she's actually running interference, and Jay loves her just a little for it. Dick falls into the seat with more grace than he should have. Jay fumbles a bit with the lines he was going to use before throwing them aside.

Cheesy pick up lines are Dick's thing, not his. Jay's strength has always been in being bold and direct.

Dick grunts a little when Jay sits down right on his lap, and his hands come up automatically as he leans his head back to look t Jay. He doesn't push him back though, and Jay just goes for it.

The kiss is messy and uncoordinated, but Jay's too busy marveling over how soft Dick's lips are to mind. It's hard to mind anything at all really when Dick reaches up to pull him closer and takes charge of the kiss. His thumb pressing down on Jay's jaw until he obligingly opens his mouth for the man's wicked tongue that finishes off any coherent thought Jay might have had before hand.

Jay hears a low whistle but only gets a fleeting view of Donna's back when Dick pulls back to look at the door. "Heh," Jay leans back and there's a stupid grin on his face he can't help, "I like your friends."

Dick laughs and gently pushes him off his lap, "And my friends like interrupting. Let's shelve this for later."

"Sure," Jay agrees quickly and follows Dick back out to the party.


	5. Death in the Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Request for Batfam finding out about them. I read that as Batman though and was feeling mean.

Dick is quiet in ways that have never been natural to him. He's always been vocal even back when Bruce first picked him up off the dusty ground of the circus and held him close so he couldn't see the disaster of his family. Grief, anger, joy, sadness, all of it. Every emotion in Dick is loud, so Bruce knows something is incredibly wrong when Dick goes quiet as they leave the cemetery. 

It's wrong and not right at all which matches perfectly with the fact that they've just put Jason into the ground. Bruce looks over at Dick as the car starts up and drives away. Numb with the grief and guilt that hasn't stopped and that he knows never will.

"Dick," Bruce starts and then doesn't know how to finish. Something is wrong with Dick, he knows that, but he doesn't have the words to find out what. Doesn't have the strength needed to try and fix it. Not now, maybe not for a while.

Dick doesn't react. Just looks out of the front window over Alfred's shoulder. Blinking slowly and breathing evenly. His hands are balled up against his thighs. The fingers gripping the cloth tight and going white even as the rest of him looks calm and placid. There's going to be an explosion soon, and Bruce wants to laugh at the poor choice of words his mind has gone for. 

It's going to happen though. Bruce can read it in the lines of Dick's body. The man is going to explode soon and there is nothing he can do to stop it. Nothing to do but sit there and watch it happen. To take it because Dick doesn't rage into the void when he has something --someone-- to look to.

"He would not want this," Alfred speaks up, and his eyes are sharp in the mirror. Sorrowed but still sharp as he addresses them. As he talks to Dick. "You know he would not want those he loved to hurt each other."

Dick makes a soft and pained noise that is utterly gutted, and Bruce feels his entire being sink further than he thought possible. It's an innocuous phrase used and Dick's reaction could be seen as entirely reasonable, but....

But. There is always something else, always something waiting in the shadows to come swooping out to make something even worse, and this is it. A series of facts and words and memories fall together with that single wounded noise and Bruce closes his eyes as new pain rips through him with this sudden realization. 

"Of course," Bruce says, and the words barely make it past his numb lips. "Of course."

Beside him, Dick folds up into a ball of choking tears that start out low and get louder as the grief of losing Jason rips through him. The grief of losing someone he loves, and not as the brother that Bruce had always assumed was their only connection.


End file.
